Gender Differences in Unemployment and Poverty in Four Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan
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Gender Differences in Unemployment and Poverty in Four Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan Dr. Abdel Baset Athamneh Dept. of Economics- Yarmouk University Irbid-Jordan 0 Gender Differences in Unemployment and Poverty in Four Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan Dr. Abdel Baset Athamneh Abstract This study aims at investigating the effect of gender differences on causing unemployment and poverty inside Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan through estimating the rates of unemployment and poverty among families headed by women and those headed by men. To attain its objectives, this study picked the needed data using an accidental (convenience) sampling technique that included 674 families in four camps: Irbid, Al-Husn, Jerash, and Suf Camps. Descriptive analysis was used to illustrate the impact of the gender of the family head on those rates. The study found differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of the sample, including family size, family residence space, income levels, education levels, school dropout rates, child labor, dependency rates, etc. The results of the study also showed that unemployment rates among families in the sample as a whole were higher in families headed by women (24.4 percent) than in families headed by men (22.0 percent). Conversely, at the camp level, unemployment rates among families headed by men were higher, except in Irbid camp. However, poverty rates were found to be higher among families headed by women in the sample as whole and in all camps as well; the abject poverty rates in the sample amounted 18.8 percent for families headed by women versus 5.6 percent for families headed by men. The absolute poverty rates were 67.8 percent and 45.6 percent respectively. Finally, the study recommends further research on gender issues concerning refugee communities, concentrating on qualitative analyses to provide deep interpretations for the phenomena with which refugees live, especially unemployment and poverty. Keywords: gender inequality, unemployment, poverty, Palestinian refugees 1 1. OVERVIEW: 1.1 INTRODUCTION: The study of the socioeconomic characteristics of any community is considered the key to diagnosing the reality of that community and the problems it faces especially those have direct impacts on the life of individuals. Taking into consideration the abilities of individuals and society and the possibilities of the national economy, the diagnosis of the causes and consequences of unemployment and poverty in any community and tackling their negative effects helps decision makers to plan systematically to alleviate such problems. This may come true through adopting strategies to combat poverty and setting macroeconomic policies to push the economic growth forward and therefore creating new job opportunities and increasing the employment levels. Accordingly, decreasing the rates of unemployment will decrease the rates of poverty which in turn improves life standards of people and increases their welfare as well. Moreover, unemployment and poverty are interdisciplinary problems which they have social, economic, psychological and political consequences and are related to other important issues in society such as: the high dependency rates, the negative attitudes for public opinion, the inequity of income distribution, low productivity, the increase in the rate of crime, etc., which requires comprehensive and long-lasting treatments to the causes, aspects and effects of those issues simultaneously. Refugee community usually differs from hosting communities in terms of the overall social and economic circumstances due to the lack of the opportunities available to refugees in general in attending schools and acquiescing in specialized training, in addition to their legal status as refugees which in sometimes prevent them get jobs that guarantee permanent income sources. This applies more to female refugees who suffer more than males in getting self-sufficiency and economic empowerment. The influx of Palestinian refugees to Jordan started in May 1948 due to the Arab-Israeli war; where about 500 thousand refugees expelled from their original homeland Palestine to Jordan (UNRWA, 1995). In 1967, a new forced migration began to the Kingdom as a result of the war between Israel and some of the Arab states, and therefore, Palestinian refugees and displaced 2 persons obliged to flee from the West Bank to the East Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Before that time, particularly in 1950, Jordan witnessed a unification between the two banks, yet, since that time the majority of Palestinian refugees (more than 95%) residing in Jordan have full citizenship including political rights and the right of voting. Nevertheless, about 18% of them still live in refugee camps (Athamneh, 2016). The United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has defined a Palestinian refugee as anyone whose “normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict” (UNRWA, 2006). Consequently, Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, which were called later the UNRWA’s operational regions. While Palestinian displaced persons in Jordan are Palestinians originating from the West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, who were internally displaced for the first time during the 1967 Israeli-Arab war to the East Bank of the Kingdom, and who are unable to return to their homes. The majority of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons in Jordan lives outside camps since they are well-integrated in the Jordanian society and the rest in thirteen refugee camps; ten of them are under the mandate of the UNRWA, they are: Irbid, Zarqa, Jabal Al-Hussein, Marka (Hiteen), Suf, Jerash, Azmi Al-Mufti, Baqa, Talbia, and Al-Wihdat, while the other three camps are: Assokhneh, Madaba, and Al-Amir Hassan Quarter (Hnakeen) (DPA, 2016). The temporary status of the Palestinian refugees and displaced persons camps in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, or in the rest of the UNRWAS’s operations does not in any way mean the omission of any of the aspects which directly affect human resources, as a focal point of economic and social development process. It is also an important source of economic growth as an essential determinant of the aggregate demand and aggregate supply in the national economy at the same time. In addition, sustainable economic and social development of the society should target all sectors, classes, and categories regardless the legal status of individuals in the society whether they are permanent residents or refugees. The crude economic activity rate in Jordan is low in general (24.3%) in 2015 and the labor market suffers from a gender gap. this rate came to 39.3% for males and to only 8.9% for females of the same year, and this gap seems significant where the refined economic activity 3 rates came to 36.7%, 60.5% and 11.0% for the same year respectively. Additionally, unemployment rates in Jordan have experienced big differences between females (22.5%) and males (11.0%) of that year (DOS, 2016a). And because Palestinian refugees have been integrated into the Jordanian society they almost have the same socioeconomic characteristics and circumstances, this study aims at investigating the impact of the gender of the head of the family on unemployment and poverty. In addition, the study of gender issues became today one of the most important developmental topics which concerns countries and nations as it refers to the empowerment of woman and/ or man and therefore reinforcing their roles in serving the community and emerging economic sufficiency. Whereas gender differences could be a reason for some economic and social problems among of which unemployment and poverty especially in marginalized communities and in groups which suffer from social and economic exclusion. Hence, this study becomes significant because gender gap became true in Jordan, which impedes woman empowerment and reinforces social exclusion in the society. So the study aims to investigate the impact of gender differences as a cause for unemployment and poverty inside Palestinian refugees and IDPs inside camps in Jordan. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: This study aims to study the effect of gender differences on causing unemployment and poverty inside Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan, and in detail, as follows: 1. Identifying some of the demographic and social characteristics concerning families in camps such as sex, age, age structure, the number of the family members, nationality, marital status, education, and the ownership of the housing and its area. 2. Investigating the effect of the gender of family head on some economic variables (indicators) concerning the families such as income, the number of employed, number of unemployed, and place of work, dependency rates, and unemployment rates. 3. Investigating the impact of gender differences on the levels of unemployment through calculating unemployment rates in the sample. 4. Measuring the absolute and abject poverty rates for the sample according to camps and to the gender of the head of the family. 4 1.3 PROBLEM AND SIGNIFICANCE: Gender issues became today one the important topics which scientific research aims to tackle as they have interdisciplinary relation with all economic, social, demographic and/ or developmental dimension in the society. The importance of such topic is growing, especially in developing countries,